SS/L to Outline How the U.S. Government Can Benefit From Commercial Satellite Architectures and Acquisition Processes in Six Month Study
Space Systems/Loral (SS/L), the leading provider of commercial satellites, today announced that it was awarded a $1.5 million study contract by the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center’s MILSATCOM Systems Directorate to evaluate options available to meet future war fighting communications needs. SS/L will study how commercial technologies and best practices can fulfill military communications mission needs cost effectively while exceeding mission assurance requirements.
“Our goal is to make sure that our war fighters have state-of-the-art communications capabilities when and where they are needed and at a reasonable cost to the taxpayer,” said Al Tadros, Vice President of Civil and DoD Business at Space Systems/Loral. “Commercial satellite production routinely provides high data rate multimedia services to fixed and mobile users on fast schedules, with economy of scale pricing, and exceptional reliability. The study results will further enable SMC to take advantage of these benefits on future MILSATCOM programs.”
In 2010 the on-orbit fleet of approximately 60 SS/L-built geostationary satellites delivered better than 99.999 percent availability to its demanding commercial customers whose business cases depend on satellite reliability. The U.S. Air Force can also benefit from SS/L’s experience building two of the world’s highest capacity broadband satellites, each of which offers more than 100 gigabits per second throughput.
The Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center stated that the goal of the study is to assess the application of innovative and feasible commercial-like acquisition approaches to enhance affordability, reduce delivery time, and expand the space industrial base.
About Space Systems/Loral
Space Systems/Loral, a subsidiary of Loral Space & Communications (Nasdaq:LORL), has a long history of delivering reliable satellites and spacecraft systems for commercial and government customers around the world. As the world’s leading provider of commercial satellites, the company works closely with satellite operators to provide spacecraft for a broad range of services including television and radio distribution, digital audio radio, broadband Internet, and mobile communications. Billions of people around the world depend on SS/L satellites every day. For more information, visit www.ssloral.com.
About Loral Space & Communications
Loral Space & Communications is a satellite communications company. Through its Space Systems/Loral subsidiary, the company is a world-class leader in the design and manufacture of satellites and satellite systems for commercial and government applications including direct-to-home television, broadband communications, wireless telephony, weather monitoring, and air traffic management. Loral also owns 64 percent of Telesat, one of the world’s largest providers of satellite services. Telesat operates a fleet of telecommunications satellites used to broadcast video entertainment programming, distribute direct-to-home video and broadband data services, and other value-added communications services. For more information, visit Loral’s Web site at www.loral.com. LORL-G
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CONTACT: Media Contact: Wendy Lewis Space Systems/Loral +1 (650) 852-5188
